Recruitment International Event
12th June 2013
Growing The Curvy Way
What’s Coming Up?
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Who are we & what do we do
Our journey
The 6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way
1. Culture
2. Brand identity
3. Customer is KING
4. Flexing the business model
5. Dare to be different
6. Funding
The Curve Co-Owners
Jeanette Ramsden
Della Wolfe
Lyndsey Simpson
Some of the Curvy team…
The Journey
2004
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The Curve Group began life as Curve Recruiting Ltd in 2004. From 2004 through to 2007, the
focus was purely on permanent search and selection of senior roles ranging in salary from £70150,000 with a significant proportion of roles being retained fees
2007
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As the business grew, there was client-led demand to help the candidates that we placed then
hire the teams in underneath them. Moved into contingent recruitment and re-named both
businesses Curve Search (for the senior hires) and Curve Recruiting for hires ranging from
£40-80,000
2008
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In Sep 2008, the recession hit with force and at that time, our 3 major Banking customers
cancelled all recruitment and put in place 12-18 month external recruitment freezes
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In Oct 2008 we undertook a major review of our business and made some strategic decisions
that shaped the business today:
2009
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Over 60% of our revenue came from 3 major customers so we pro-actively looked to
extend our sector coverage and customer mix
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We decided to invest and build Curve Outplacement
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We built this business from scratch, invested in the IT, built a website for it and launched
it on 1st January 2009, by 10th January, we had our first customer – Pizza Hut
The Journey Continued…
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In 2010, we built a 4th business – Curve Outsourcing (Now Curve RPO). This provided
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and HR Outsourcing (HRO) solutions to corporates in
the form of 2 or 3 year full outsource agreements
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June 2010 – we re-brand to The Curve Group, bring all of our websites and external marketing
into 1 site and create a new brand identity with a focussed 2 year PR & Marketing plan to
maximise on the investment.
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Bounced back immediately from the previous year to record a 130% growth in income and
returned to higher than pre-recession levels
2011
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Withdrew HRO offering to focus on RPO
2012
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Embarked on another client-led expansion into contractor recruitment. Built and launched
Curve Contractors
2013
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June 2013 – re-brand to include 5 businesses, new “responsive” website to go live on Wed
26th June
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Currently tracking at 165% yr on yr growth
2010
Concrete Pillars
1) Culture
“The Curvy Way”
So What is The Curvy Way?
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Its how we think and how we behave
Its what we hire our people based upon
It encapsulates our corporate culture
It empowers our team to Be Different – Be Curvy
It brings to life our 6 core values every day:
1. Passionate
2. Trusted
3. Results-Orientated
4. Added Value/Insight
5. Business Savvy
6. Friendly
2) Brand
Create a Consistent Brand Experience
Ensure Words & Images are Aligned
3) Customer is KING
Customer is KING
Notice the little
things
Candidates &
Clients are the
same!
Customer
Always do what
you say you will
Keep relationship
points the same
Understand their
world & priorities
Resourcing & HR
are your
customers –
don’t go around
them
4) Flexing the Business
Model
“To stand still is to fall behind”
Gordon Forward
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Spot your exposures/look at your pareto analysis and keep building a
more rounded business
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Pull out of unprofitable clients & sectors
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Change your pricing model – know your profitable limits & level of
“seller power” with individual clients
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The 3 S’s….Silence, solitude, solutions
5) Dare to be Different
USPs
No commission!
No specified
hours for headhunters
Commercial
pricing – create
some fun/skin in
the game
No targets
Seek forgiveness
not permission
6) Funding
Funding Expansion
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Lots of routes – for us, it’s the Bank
Know your cash – daily, weekly, monthly & 3-month forecasts
When running projections:
 Headcount
 Desk space/infrastructure
 IT equipment
 Major outflows e.g. VAT/Corporation tax/annual profit share
Don’t ask for money when you need it!
Bring them in on the journey, get them excited about your business
and feel a part of it
Plan ahead and allude to what you will need next quarter, next year…
In Summary
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I hope you found our journey useful…
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The
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
6 concrete pillars to growing The Curvy Way
Culture
Brand identity
Customer is KING
Flexing the business model
Dare to be different
Funding
Thank you
@thecurvegroup
@lyndseydsimpson
www.thecurvegroup.co.uk
Lyndsey Simpson / The Curve Group